US President Joe Biden speaks during the National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC Nov 19, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

Did American politicians' promises during the US presidential elections mean anything at all? "I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country," US President Joe Biden said ambitiously during his presidential campaign in October 2020. However, judging from Biden's current attitude toward the COVID-19 fight, similar promises made by US politicians are nothing but hollow slogans used to attack other candidates and collect votes.

"Look, there is no federal solution… This gets solved at a state level," Biden said on Monday referring to stopping the COVID-19 spread in the US. Many American people taunted his words, and the tag "#NoPlanJoe" has gone viral on Twitter. People still remember how Biden released his "seven-point plan to beat COVID-19" last year and said "We're eight months into this pandemic, and Donald Trump still doesn't have a plan to get this virus under control. I do." Ironically, he doesn't.

It is beyond people's imagination that the president of a superpower lacks a unified, federal-level guideline in the COVID-19 fight. "People previously thought that anyone would do a better job than former US president Donald Trump in fighting the epidemic. But to be honest, Biden has not made remarkable moves at the federal level apart from encouraging people to get vaccinated and wear masks. US states are working independently and the federal government has not made efforts to keep them unified," Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

In fact, the US' COVID-19 vaccines were developed during the Trump administration. Biden has not made any practical moves, which is retrogression.

The epidemic in the US is getting more and more severe, with a dramatic surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases. The US is now averaging 198,404 new COVID-19 cases each day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University on Sunday. The Omicron variant has been confirmed in all 50 states less than a month after entering the US. Another problem is that the country's COVID-19 testing capabilities have been stretched to their limit due to the surge in cases.

This being the case, instead of dealing with the epidemic seriously, the federal government and local governments seem to be at a loss when it comes to effective actions. The situation does not reflect Biden's previous promise to "shut down the virus."

"Anyone who's responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America," Biden said so during his final presidential debate with Trump in October 2020. However, COVID-19 deaths in the US reached 400,000 as Trump left office, and since Biden assumed office, the number has reached more than 810,000. The death toll during each of the parties' is comparable. How can Biden explain this, and who should be held responsible for the deaths of these innocent people?

During the 2020 presidential elections, many American people had high expectations of Biden because they were convinced that he could curb the raging epidemic. In fact, this was also one of his key platforms. Unfortunately, since US elections have become displays of bipartisan disputes and empty slogans, it is always the American people who ultimately suffer.

"Almost all US presidents tend to forget what they said during the presidential election after assuming office. This has already become a norm in the US. The American people seem to be already numb about this, and they have to bear the consequences in the end," Lü said.

If the leader of the only superpower in the world today is unable to formulate a unified policy to deal with the public health crisis, and only brag about goals to win more votes, then the US' system and leadership are dubious.